A petition to Fox Sports: No more Kearns and Marto

As passionate fans, we know that at times we’re all that ‘bloke in the pub’. It’s you and me, your mates, my mates, and the dude on his ninth schooner at the end of the bar.

We all yell and scream parochial nonsense when watching our beloved team.

We complain vociferously about the ref only to take it back seconds later, you know the: “oh, right, that actually was a fair penalty”.

We bay for blood when one of our team is attacked by a cowardly act from the opposition’s most ‘dirty player’. “He’s been doing it all night ref!!”. Etcetera.

But we don’t need the bloke in the pub coming out of our televisions.

This is as much a petition as an article. Rugby fans deserve better than a Fox Sports commentary team containing a double serve of Phil Kearns and Greg Martin.

I watched the 2nd Australia versus Ireland match on mute from about the 55th minute. I’m not being melodramatic, I really did, and without any doubt in my mind, I enjoyed the game more. It came with the added benefit of not having to listen to the referee talk to the TMO, but that’s for another article…

I just could not take any more of Kearns and Marto.

I want to make it very clear that I’m not writing this to attack Phil Kearns and Greg Martin as people. I’m sure they’re good blokes. I’d have no problem having a beer with either of them and to be specific, I’d have no problem watching a rugby game with them while drinking that beer. But this absolutely encapsulates my issue.

I want to hear things from the commentators that are on another level of objectivity, detail and expertise than what’s coming out of my own mouth – or the bloke next to me.

I don’t expect a commentator to be 100 per cent objective when their team is playing. But do believe it reasonable that they do their best to minimise their bias. Anything less and they’re not adding to my experience, they’re just barracking. To call Kearns and Martin biased doesn’t even seem strong enough.

Rather than calling for them both to be permanently barred from any further commentary, I’ll propose something less extreme.

Dear Fox Sports,

We the fans demand that no more than one of either Phil Kearns or Greg Martin can be in the commentary box at any one time.